1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sliding door assemblies and, more particularly, to motorized sliding door assemblies designed for residences.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is widely known that, in residences, standard ceiling heights range between 90 and 96 inches and standard door heights range between 80 and 82 inches. The distance between the top of the door and the ceiling, hereinafter called the header space, ranges between 10 and 16 inches. When constructing doorways on exterior or interior support walls, a single thick piece of wood is used as a single header, or two thin pieces of wood placed side-by-side are used as a double header to support the ceiling load. As a result, any empty space above the door for other structures or other objects is small or non-existent.
Many mechanical doors for residences, such as garage doors, are rated according to the number of times they are opened. For example, inexpensive garage doors are rated for 10,000 to 20,000 openings, while more expensive garage doors are rated for 30,000 to 50,000 openings. The different ratings are usually attributed to the design of the door and the quality of materials.
In many residences, pocket doors are commonly constructed in non-supporting, interior walls where wall and room space is limited or when a hinged door is architecturally undesirable. Typically, pocket doors are lightweight and include two or more guide wheels attached to the top edge of the door that travel along a horizontally aligned rail attached to the inside surface of a header jam on a pocket door frame. Additional guide wheels or clips may be attached to the bottom edge of the door to keep it vertically aligned inside the pocket door frame. The pocket door is opened by manually pushing it into a "pocket", built into the wall located adjacent to the opening.
Pocket doors described above have not been used as entrance doors in residences for many reasons. First, they are not sufficiently durable for the numerous openings entrance doors typically must endure. Second, the limited space above the header required for doors and their reduced security and weatherproofing characteristics make them undesirable. Third, many residence owners find manually opening and closing a sliding door more inconvenient or difficult than opening and closing a hinged door.